Medicinal plant is a collective name for edible plants that are found in nature or are grown and used for their nutrients and / or medicinal effects. Dear children have many names and other names that are used interchangeably are herbs, medicinal plants and edible plants.
An edible plant thus means a plant that is not toxic for humans to consume. Wild edible plants include all plants in nature which can be used both as food but also as medicine, for example from their leaves, flowers, roots, leaves and stems. Medicinal plants include these wild plants but also those grown. However, there is no clear definition of what a medicinal plant is.
The terms medicinal plant, herb, medicinal plant and edible plant are thus used interchangeably, where they refer to the same plants. Botanically, there is a difference between these concepts, but in everyday speech the terms are used interchangeably and synonymously. For example, thyme can be referred to as an herb as it is used as a spice in the kitchen but also as a medicinal or medicinal plant, among other things for its expectorant properties.
In this article and all my others, I therefore mix between the concepts. I realize that it can be difficult to understand the difference between them, but they are often used interchangeably with each other. A plant is seldom only "healing / treating" or just a cooking herb. Most have both health-promoting, preventive and therapeutic properties and thus all these terms are used for the plants.
Division according to area of use
The plants can be used in their full form, fresh or dried. But they can also be refined and used as preparations, which then fall into two different categories. The division depends on how they are extracted, for example, what research is available regarding effect, but mainly what claims are made about them, whether they are treatment or health claims . There are two categories where "natural products" can be included:
1. Medicines
2. Dietary supplements
Medicinal plant as a medicine
Many medicinal plants go under drugs where there are additional divisions. These plants are then used for treatment purposes, after which the Medical Products Agency is the supervisory authority for examining these preparations (a very expensive and enormously complicated process).
Medicinal plant as a dietary supplement
A dietary supplement is defined as vitamins and minerals in concentrated form, which also includes medicinal plants and plant extracts in concentrated form. Dietary supplements are only for health-promoting purposes and may therefore only use health claims on their products. Thus, they may not have claims to alleviate or cure diseases, but only drugs may do so. The purpose of dietary supplements is then to strengthen or improve health together with a varied and healthy diet.
In its full form
A medicinal plant in its original form, such as thyme, ginger, dandelion leaves, cardamom and cayenne is considered a food. In other words, concentrated forms of medicinal plants are dietary supplements while in their original form they can be considered as vegetables and foods. On the other hand, one can question why some plants are considered dietary supplements as they are powdered and sold while others go under food (eg ground spices).
It can be a little difficult to understand, but if your only desire is to pick plants in nature for your own use, you do not need to familiarize yourself with these complicated definitions (unless you are very interested).
What are medicinal plants used for?
Edible plants have been used as long as we humans have trotted around on this earth. Bearing in mind that for most of our existence we have lived as hunter-gatherers, wild plants have been one of our staple foods. As well as the only type of medicine we have had access to.
Unfortunately, much of this knowledge has disappeared over the past few hundred years. However, I think it is so important that we remember that we have developed together with these plants. It feels like there is a general skepticism and fear of them today.
"Do they work?" is a question I often get. Which is kind of like asking if broccoli "works". Yes, vegetables are one of the most important foods, they strengthen our health and can thus act preventively against diseases (along with a generally healthy lifestyle). Wild plants and vegetables are really the same thing, only that we grow one and possibly not, or possibly, the other. The cultivated vegetables were once wild. Everything comes from nature, yet we.
When asked if they work as medicine, I refer to the large amount of scientific evidence that is still found on very many plants. As well as the enormous ancient knowledge that we have carried with us since the beginning of our existence. There have been many "trial and error" over the years.
Are medicinal plants dangerous?
Of course, there are plants that are poisonous. In Sweden you can find some of these but where serious poisonings are unusual according to the Poison Center. For several of the plants, large intakes are required for them to be toxic, while some are toxic in relatively small amounts. Examples are Nordic storm hat (Aconitum lycoctonum) and thimble flower (Digitalis spp), which is the active ingredient in heart fibrillation and heart failure medicine.
However, the Poison Center points out that it is almost never dangerous if you happen to ingest only a small amount of a poisonous plant. However, many vegetables that are consumed also contain substances that can be toxic in large quantities, such as coumarin in cinnamon, phenylhydrazines in mushrooms and cyanogenic glycosides in, for example, flax seeds and bitter almonds. However, it is rare that there are such toxic amounts of them.
In general, these foods are considered to contribute more health benefits than risks and disadvantages. For most of the foods sold in stores, there is enough research to comment on health benefits and disadvantages, which is lacking for many of the wild plants. Thus, it is the scientific evidence that is lacking for many Western cultures to embrace plants, rather than actual effect.
Drug interactions
A possible risk with some medicinal plants is if they are taken at the same time as certain conventional medicines, whether the purpose of consuming the medicinal plant is health-promoting or therapeutic. They can thus interact with the drug and often then in conjunction with those drugs with a limited therapeutic effect, such as Warfarin to lower blood pressure.
The main concern is that certain plants remove the effect of some drugs as they, for example, streamline enzymes in the liver (which then also break down the drug faster. Where I think, what opportunity to then also use these plants to get unwanted particles out of the body If you look at it from a positive point of view with possibilities instead of one based on fear). The natural effects of some plants can also be the same as for drugs, for example diuretics, whereupon the plants could instead intensify the effect of the drug.
However, there is not enough research to ensure these interactions for most medicinal plants except a few such as St. John's wort , ginkgo and ginseng. (It should be added that even conventional drugs can have interaction effects in combination with each other).
What plants can you pick yourself in nature?
Many! But you should only pick plants you are absolutely sure of who they are. Bring a book about wild plants (which can be borrowed from most libraries) to identify, but do not use the plant if you are not quite sure which one it is.
It is also extremely important that we do not pick large parts when we find a group of plants. Many herbalists usually say that one should not pick more than 20% and leave 80%. Among other things, to ensure that they can be spread further and that they can also be food for other animals. Which of course differs depending on which plants we find. Dandelions that are in a great abundance are not so great a chance that we eradicate by picking most when we find them (good luck picking all you find…). While other plants such as real St. John's wort are not plants to the same extent and we therefore only want to pick some of the ones we find. We also do not know how many others also take from the same stock.
Some of the most common plants we can pick in nature as well as in many gardens are nettles, cherry, dandelion, violet, rosehip, elderberry (which is often grown), plantain and yarrow. None of these plants are in any way dangerous or have other harmful plants that are similar to them. They also grow almost everywhere in Sweden, often in large quantities and precisely at the places where we humans live.
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